Linda Carman

Follow Southern Pantry

If you’ve baked you’ve probably made mistakes – I certainly have. My mistakes are often the result of being in a hurry or getting distracted. I wish I could tell you I have the solution for lack of time, but I don’t. However, there is something that helps with distraction, if I just do it!

Here are some common baking mistakes and tips to help avoid them.

We don’t read the recipe before we start: Reading the recipe all the way through before starting reminds us to check to be sure we have all the ingredients, to preheat the oven and prep the pans. You may also discover cooling or chilling times you hadn’t counted on.

We don’t prep all the ingredients: It is so tempting to start a recipe, measuring as we go, but prepping all the ingredients first eliminates a lot of mishaps. If you’re interrupted, it’s much easier to remember where you were.

Measure ingredients correctly: Although you can wing a lot of cooking, baking is different – it’s as much a science as it is an art. You need nested measuring cups for dry ingredients and a clear measuring cup for liquids. I like to whisk flour, spoon gently into the measuring cup and level off with a straight edge.

We make unwise substitutions: You can do this with spaghetti sauce, but it is much more critical in baking to stick to the recipe.

We over or under soften butter: I’ve done this so many times. Start a recipe and discover the butter should be softened. You can cut it into pieces and let it stand at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes. Properly softened butter should yield to the touch, but not go all the way down into it.

Key Lime and Macadamia Bars are one of my favorites for spring. Take into consideration that they need to cool before cutting. Happy baking!

I have long been fascinated by the Cajun zest for life. Their love of home, good food shared with friends and rollicking music created one of the most interesting cultures and delicious cuisines in the South.

Cajuns were rugged French settlers who migrated to Acadia in Canada in the 17th Century and eventually on to southern Louisiana. Coming from a rural background, the Acadians – later know as Cajuns – gravitated to the bayous and marshland. Cajuns typically had a love for pork and developed ways to prepare and preserve it by making spicy sausage and cracklins’.

Their cooking method of choice is often a big pot, outside, and over an open fire. The results usually call for fun, friends and music. Jambalaya, a stew of vegetables and meat like andouille sausage is great example of a delicious one-dish meal made with readily available ingredients.

Inspired by the Cajun classic, Cracklin’ Biscuits contain the delicious crisp pieces of meat remaining after lard has been rendered from pork. These biscuits are perfect for breakfast or with a creamy soup. For a stylish appetizer, cut the biscuits in half, split open and fill with a slice of tomato and lettuce. The result is a delectable Cajun BLT! If you can’t find Cracklins’ for this recipe, you can also use crisp cooked bacon.

If you’re from Kentucky it’s likely you’ve heard of the Hot Brown Sandwich. The rather unusual name comes courtesy of the famous old Brown Hotel in Louisville, where the sandwich was invented in 1926 and still features the sandwich on the menu. It’s rumored that the chef came up with this recipe as an alternative to ham and egg late night suppers.

The Hot Brown is an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon, covered in cheese sauce and baked or broiled until the bread is crisp and sauce begins to brown. Sometimes the sandwich includes ham, pimentos or tomatoes.

Making a cheese sauce is a great way to turn a sandwich into a main dish for weekday suppers. If you make gravy, a cheese sauce is basically the same thing made with butter instead of drippings with cheese added. I usually start by making a roux with 1/4 cup butter, melted in a skillet; stirring in a 1/4 cup all-purpose or self-rising flour. Cook and continue stirring until roux is bubbly, but not brown. Gradually add 2 cups milk, bring to a boil and stir until thickened. Stir in 1 cup shredded cheese until melted. Add salt to taste. This makes a thick sauce, so add milk to achieve your desired consistency.

Creative Southern chefs love to substitute biscuits for bread in classics like Eggs Benedict, so why not make a hot brown on Martha White Hot Rize Biscuits or even Sweet Milk Corn Cakes? The versatility of this sandwich allows any meat you have on hand to be used like turkey, chicken, ham or bacon. It’s not only delicious, but satisfying on a cool night.

The traditional Peanut butter cookie is an all-time favorite, providing us another way to eat our beloved peanut butter. This cookie is hard to replace, but if you’d like to try something a little different, here are a couple of recipes, each equally delicious.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies will certainly be of interest to those of you who try to follow a gluten-free diet. Although this recipe is flourless, these cookies are so delicious that I encourage any peanut butter cookie lover to try them. There’s an intense peanut butter flavor due to the low amount of cornmeal in the recipe. Crunchy and chewy – you just have to taste it for yourself! This particular recipe calls for Jif® Natural Peanut Butter Spread with Honey, which is delicious, but I’ve also made them with creamy and crunchy peanut butters and they too were good. I made them recently with Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter Spread and loved them, but I’m an extra crunchy peanut butter girl.

The Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies are a combination of two classics – peanut butter and oats. The combination celebrates with the chewiness of oats and the rich flavor of peanut butter. Consider adding chopped salted peanuts to take this cookie to the next level!

BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger Muffins are a favorite in our house. We eat them for a quick lunch or dinner. They only take a few minutes to make and they taste fantastic!

These BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger Muffins start with a packet of Martha White® Buttermilk Cornbread Mix. I love the Martha White mixes! They are such a time saver! I doctored up the muffin mix with some flour and an egg. Then I added in hamburger meat, BBQ sauce, bacon and cheese. OMG! Let me tell you, these were crazy good! We ate them for lunch, but they would also be good for parties. Serve them with some chips or French fries for a meal and you’re guaranteed to please everyone!

In the South we love our nuts. We like to eat them raw, roasted and glazed. We like to include them in our favorite pie, cookie, brownie, muffin, pancake, nut bread, and cornbread recipes. I realize that there are those among us who are allergic to nuts (and I’m sorry about that) and others who just don’t like them or just don’t like them in their cookies or breads. But, also know many people who love them!

Many areas of the South have pecan and black walnut trees growing right in our yards. As a child, I remember a hickory nut tree that grew behind our house with nuts and we would gather them off the ground to eat. Having an abundance of nuts readily available was certainly a blessing to the people who lived off the land. Nuts were typically free for the taking, but the shelling was not always easy, but worth the effort. Those little hickory nuts were hard as rock to crack and the nut was quite small, but tasted delicious.

Easy Blueberry Crisp is a fun little crisp recipe that can be made with a variety of pie filling flavors. This recipe lives up to its name by layering ingredients, including pecans, in a baking dish and not stirring!

We’ll be seeing a lot of green for St. Patrick’s Day on March 17. Actually an Irish Feast Day honoring Saint Patrick, the day is celebrated in many different ways from religious to social. Regardless if St. Patrick Day includes a celebration for you, it’s still a good day to bake something special for your family and friends.

The combination of flour, sugar, butter and eggs produces a rich and delicious shortbread. A great keeper, shortbread is wonderful for a party, gifting or for a treat.

Although Scotland gets the credit of this delectable creation, shortbread is popular all over the British Isles and definitely appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not a big fan of green food, but if you want to get into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit, feel free to add a touch of green food coloring.

This shortbread recipe was developed by Shannon Adams of Honeybee Bakery in Oxford, Mississippi for the Southern Foodways Symposium. The theme of the conference that year was Exploring the Global South – an exploration of cultural influences on Southern food and cooking.

Lemon Rosemary Corn Meal Shortbread stays close to the original version, but with the addition of corn meal it now has a distinctive Southern flair and a subtle crunch. The rosemary and lemon zest add a refreshing flavor.

Sure to be a hit with your family and friends, this recipe is a great example of how our ancestors from all over the world continue to influence the foods we cook today.